World oil prices sank to fresh four-year lows on Monday after Saudi Arabia killed off the possibility of a quick Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) meeting aimed at propping up glutted global oil markets.
Brent crude, the world benchmark, opened at $13.45 a barrel on London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE).
Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said that any Opec rescue plan was being delayed by member countries that are not prepared to reduce their production.
This means that coming up with a joint solution within Opec to restore stability to the market would be difficult indeed, he said.
He added Saudi Arabia did not want to cut output only to find out other countries flooding the market, undermining prices and taking our valuable customers.
Venezuelas oil minister, Erwin Arrieta, has said his country would not cut output even by one barrel.
Nigeria and Qatar are also pumping more oil than their Opec quotas.
The $12.90 a barrel low hit on Brent crude during the winter of 1994 has to be under threat, said John Toalster, analyst at SG Securities in London.
He said oil markets were currently facing the worst fundamentals since 1995 simply because no one is accepting responsibility.
Underlying the current price weakness are several factors including quota busting by Opec.
The group raised its self-imposed production ceiling by 10 per cent to 27.5 million barrels per day (bpd) last November but is overproducing by more than a million bpd.
Venezuela is pumping some 7,80,000 bpd above it quota while Nigeria and Qatar are also overproducing.
In addition to quota busting, Naimi highlighted weakness in Asian oil demand, warm winter weather in the West and rising non-Opec oil production as factors that had undermined oil markets.
Traders and analysts also cite rising Iraqi oil exports and ballooning oil stocks as pressuring prices.
The west's oil watch-dog, the International Energy Agency (IEA), said last month that there was too much oil on the market this year despite slashing its forecast for non-Opec supply.
